2010

For his final project in the Design
Interactions program, James Chambers
concocted a group of products under
the guise of the Attenborough Design
Group (ADG), named for revered British
naturalist David Attenborough. The ADG
is made up of imaginary researchers
who explore what would happen
if electronic objects displayed animal
behaviors in response to common
problems. The Gesundheit Radio, for
example, sneezes periodically through
nostrils on its front to free itself of
the dirt that may damage its electronic
insides, and the Floppy Legs Portable
Hard Drive can sense a spill—a tipped-over
coffee cup on a desk, for example—
and raise itself on four legs above the
desk’s surface to avoid being ruined.
These objects operate on instinct,
programmed to act in the interest of
self-preservation, essentially allowing
them to survive longer than their
competitors and bringing the language
of natural selection into the realm
of product design.